Amtrak Wants To Step Up Timetable Of Planned Rail Repairs

NJ lawmakers are concerned about more potential disruptions for commuters.

Senator Paul Sarlo

New Jersey commuters can expect more delays into the summer as Amtrak closes and repairs tracks that lead to New York's Penn Station.

Instead of replacing the aging infrastructure over several years, Amtrak officials plan to work on a series of projects through June of 2018.

Senator Tony Bucco says disruptions from the track work are a big inconvenience for thousands of New Jersey commuters.

"A lot more now are going into their cars rather than using mass transit. That's causing congestion on our roads and it's not tolerable. I think to have to maybe be working around the clock on this. Whether they are or not I don't know, I haven't seen the schedule of it, but I think they have to find ways of doing that."

"Some of the work can be could at night at course but it's very limited windows. As an engineer I understand that some of the durations take much longer than just doing them on the overnight periods. But we need to make sure that once they start doing these necessary repairs, that they don't drag out."

New Jersey Transit executive director Steven Santoro is also concerned about potential delays for commuters.

“In our discussions with Amtrak we will clearly have discussions about what their plan is and how it’s going to disrupt our customers and the severity of the impact. All of that is going to weigh in on our decision to accept the plan or modify the plan.”